live from washington, this is bbc news. a memorial service is held at magdeburg cathedral, attended by germany's leaders, for victims of a christmas market attack. a nine—year—old is among five people killed in the attack — 200 others are injured. a senior palestinian official tells the bbc that a ceasefire deal between israel and hamas in gaza is 90% complete. and after days of negotiations, joe biden signs a us government spending bill into law, officially averting a shutdown. i'm helena humphrey. glad you

could try me. —— join me. respects are being paid in the german city of magdeburg to the victims of friday's deadly attack on a christmas market. five people were killed, and at least 200 injured, when a man drove into a crowd at high speed. a memorial service has been held in magdeburg's cathedral. hundreds of people, including the german chancellor, gathered in the square outside, some carrying candles and flowers. as the mourning continues, prosecutors are investigating a potential motive. germany has been hit by a number of deadly islamist attacks, but investigators say the evidence in this case suggests a different picture. the suspect is a 50—year—old saudi doctor, taleb al—abdulmohsen, who came to germany almost 20 years ago. officials say he appears to have been motivated by resentment at the treatment of refugees in germany, rather than by religion. there are also questions about security, after it emerged the suspect drove through an entrance reserved for ambulances and official vehicles. anna foster has more from magdeburg. there were just a handful of

people out here tonight, reading the notes that have been left on the flowers, or attending these candles, that are throwing golden pools of light out into the deserted streets, and just look at this place this evening, the saturday before christmas. this market in the centre of town should be thriving, should be an absolute harbour of light and noise and energy, and instead use of a closed christmas stalls, you still see the detritus on the ground, the blankets that were used to warm the injured, some of the medical equipment that was used to treat those more than 200 people who were wounded here last night. this is an attack which has shocked notjust the city, but germany throughout, and which will change this place forever. as night fell, hundreds of people attended a vigil at the city's cathedral, a packed and sombre affair. some of the first responders were among the mourners. chancellor 0laf scholz sat next to germany's president.

2a hours ago, this market was packed with people, but the laughter and celebration was cut devastatingly short, when a car sped through the crowds, killing five people and injuring 200 more. translation: the car sped past us and the police ran after it. - other emergency services arrived, evacuated people and diverted traffic. people were still panicking and screaming. we now know it used the rescue entrance to get into the square, a gap deliberately left for ambulances to have access. police say the deadly rampage lasted three minutes. armed police quickly arrested a man, a doctor, originally from saudi arabia, but living here for nearly 20 years. his motive is still under question. translation: as things stand at the moment, i it looks as if the background

to the crime could have been disgruntlement with the way saudi arabian refugees are treated in germany. but what exactly is behind it is still under investigation. emotions are running high here. alongside the sadness, there's an undercurrent of anger against politicians, who some feel didn't make this place safe enough. earlier today, chancellor 0laf scholz came to lay a white rose, and promise an investigation. translation: it is a dreadful tragedy that so many people i were killed and injured. it is a dreadful catastrophe. we send our sympathy to those who are injured, and i express the solidarity of the entire country. as specialist police continue their investigations, just a few metres away, the collection of flowers and candles here just keeps on growing. this bitter december wind is not keeping people away. they want to be here, they want to be together, and to remember the friends

that they've lost. christmas feels very different here now. the stalls won't be reopening. the focus turned instead on remembering the victims, helping the survivors, and making sure a tragedy like this can't happen again. in just the last few hours, around a hundred far—right protesters gathered in the streets of magdeburg. the march called for the "re—migration" of immigrants living in germany. the christmas market attack will likely add to the debate over security and immigration, before national elections in february. 0pinion polls show the far—right alternative for germany party is likely to perform strongly. while a motive for the attack is still unclear, our security correspondent, frank gardner, has been looking into the suspect, taleb al—abdulmohsen, and alleged warnings from the saudi government about him. they say that they passed four nodes.

they say that they passed four so—called notes verbales. these are official diplomatic notifications that they sent from saudi arabia to germany. i don't have the dates, but they sent three of them to germany intelligence agencies and one to the german foreign minister, warning, they say, about taleb al—abdulmohsen�*s extreme views that he held for the two sides to this, there is a view taken by at least one respected counterterrorism expert that i know of, who is saying that this is something of a bit of a disinformation campaign, he's even saying, that the saudis are trying to blacken his name. well, it's pretty black right now, obviously. trying to say that here was somebody that was dangerous back then but why? he was allegedly trying to help a number of people who had left

saudi arabia while political dissidents or people trying to turn their back on their islamic faith. saudi arabia being very much a monolithic one faith country, islam. and this man taleb al—abdulmohsen had left his religion of his birthplace. so, in islam, you are not supposed to leave your religion, and he has turned into somebody that the german federal interior minister as referred to as an islamophobe, and certainly some of the text, some of the tweets that he posted and are being reported in german media are exactly that, islamophobic. there are two sides to this but it does seem the authorities were concerned about this man's extreme views. rebecca schoenenbach is a counter—extremism expert, based in berlin, and she's been telling me more about the suspect�*s profile. what stands out most is that he seems to have suffered from a persecution complex, so a lot

of his tweets on x, a lot of his direct messages show that he felt persecuted by the german state, and even by the police, and he accused of secular muslims, orx police, and he accused of secular muslims, or x muslims, also persecuting him, and it is true that he defamed some of them, and they had to pursue him in court, and they won. so it seems to be a mixture of him accusing others, then feeling that they go after him, feeling suppressed by the german state. that is the most significant thing that stands out, apart from his hatred of islam, and his fandom of elon musk and the far right afd in germany. 50. far right afd in germany. so, tell us more _ far right afd in germany. so, tell us more about _ far right afd in germany. so, tell us more about that, with regards to elon musk, for example. ijust wonder, more generally, when you are looking at kind of cases of extremism,

and of course we don't know the motive here, but to what extent are we seeing, for example, conspiracy theories, or misinformation and the amplification of that feeding into various kind of beliefs? well, he was an advocate for re—migration, so he was a staunch critic not only of islam, but of any sort of migration to germany, but particularly the migration of muslims, of muslim countries, and he favoured people who were known as critics of islam, not only of islamism, but in islam, such as tommy robinson in great britain. he retweeted some of elon musk�*s takes. he didn't particularly retreat all the right wing extremism theories, so it does not seem that his whole worldview was right—wing extremism. he also tweeted a lot about sexual abuse, he

tweeted a lot about women's rights, some facts that are really to be criticised for anybody, advocating for women's rights, but he mixed with theories, with conspiracy, but most outstanding where his own perception of the german state, of the treatment of refugees, of the treatment of refugees, of the treatment of refugees, of the german police, and he even accused his own lawyers to have betrayed him. i even accused his own lawyers to have betrayed him.— have betrayed him. i want to ask about — have betrayed him. i want to ask about something - have betrayed him. i want to ask about something that. have betrayed him. i want to| ask about something that you wrote about, saying the suspect had worked as a doctor, and i've seen your comment about education level is not ruling out for example self radicalisation. just tell us more about what you've seen in that regard. more about what you've seen in that regard-— more about what you've seen in that regard. well, we know that at least researching _ that regard. well, we know that at least researching organised l at least researching organised crime and organised terrorism, but a lot of the terrorists, may two thirds to a half of

them, have education, have education degrees that are equivalent to university degrees, so most of the time, if you research organised terrorism, it is organised by people who are able to organise attacks, such as in paris, who have a good education, so to say that education in general helps prevent radicalisation is simply naive to say it, to say the least. so of course education can play a part in the prevention of radicalisation, but it must be accompanied by other factors. what is unusual with the attacker is his age. he was 50, or he is 50, he is still alive, he has been caught alive. it is unusual that he radicalised not in a short time span, but it seems to be over several years, so they have been people who were already warned against him

in 2017 -- were already warned against him in 2017 —— who already warned against him. he was pursued in 2018. he himself called the police several times during the years, so there seems to have been a very slow sort of radicalisation over the years. he seems to have done really refugee work at the beginning, and then attacked other refugees, so it is sort of a mixture. he is not a typical example of a terrorist. and a reminder — you can follow all the developments from magdeburg on the bbc news website or app. hamas and two other palestinian armed groups say that a ceasefire agreement with israel is "closer "than ever", if israel does not impose new conditions. a hamas official has said talks in cairo on friday had made significant progress, with most terms related to a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreed upon. the announcement comes amid continued israeli assaults on gaza. airstrikes on two houses in the nuseirat refugee camp

and deir al—balah city in central gaza killed at least ten people, including two children. in the past few hours, the director of kamal adwan hospital says the israeli military has ordered people to leave the facility, which is one of only three barely functioning medical facilities on the northern edge of gaza. and in israel, a missile fired from yemen has evaded the country's advanced air defences, and hit a park in the city of tel aviv, injuring more than a dozen people. the iranian—backed houthi group said it had fired what it described as a "hypersonic" weapon, out of solidarity with palestinians in gaza. joining me live now is laura blumenfeld. she's a former senior adviser at the us state department's israeli—palestinian negotiating team. hamas and two other palestinian armed groups saying today that a ceasefire agreement with israel is "closer "than ever", if israel does not

impose new conditions. what do you make of that? ijust thought, i just thought, we've ijust thought, we've been here before, we've been at that 90% mark and we've been fraud before. i mean, you can chill your champagne but don't pop the cork, because i think it will fizzle at least. this could stretch out for another three or four weeks. could stretch out for another three orfour weeks. i mean, for the first time, on the positive side, we do have a hard deadline. january 20 is inauguration day, and president trump said there would be all hell to pay if the hostages aren't released before he ascends to the presidency, and i do believe both sides are taking that seriously and trying to use it as leverage against the other side. the fact that hamas is leaking, what that tells me is they feel like they are losing right now the negotiations. typically the party that is staying silent for like they have the upper hand. ., ., for like they have the upper hand. ., . ,, for like they have the upper hand. . . i” . ., hand. laura, you are mentioning that note of _ hand. laura, you are mentioning that note of caution _ hand. laura, you are mentioning that note of caution there. - hand. laura, you are mentioning that note of caution there. of. that note of caution there. of course earlier this week, we also heard that from the state

department's matthew miller, saying of course it is not done until it is done. do you have any sense, in terms of what the potential sticking points could be? ., . , potential sticking points could be? ., ., , ., ., , be? unfortunately again, they are the same _ be? unfortunately again, they are the same sticking - be? unfortunately again, they are the same sticking points, | are the same sticking points, when it comes to the hostages and the prisoners. it is the who, it is the way, where will you release the palestinian prisoners, they want to be released right back into their own territory, the israelis want them deported, the who for the israelis, the people that they count as children and women and wounded, the palestinians, hamas, say some of them are actually soldiers. there is disagreement there. and it is when. i think both sides are concerned that that first 60 day period of the truce, the humanitarian part, that will bleed right into the trump presidency, and hamas for one is worried that they are going to be on the losing end of that, because president trump will give israel more operationalfreedom, and then operational freedom, and then israel will just operationalfreedom, and then israel willjust renege on everything they agree to enter president biden. if

everything they agree to enter president biden.— president biden. if we are caettin president biden. if we are getting closer _ president biden. if we are getting closer to - president biden. if we are getting closer to a - president biden. if we are i getting closer to a ceasefire deal potentially then we have been before, and of course i am very much caveat in what i am saying, how much do you think would be down to the biden administration pushing, wanting to get this over the line before the end of president biden�*s presidency, how much do you think could be factor, domestic pressure that netanyahu is under, including domestically?— domestically? well, that's a . reat domestically? well, that's a great question, _ domestically? well, that's a great question, because - domestically? well, that's a great question, because the domestically? well, that's a - great question, because the one thing everyone agrees are now, there is kind of a venn diagram overlap, biden and trump both want this deal done before the end of biden�*s presidency. netanyahu for the first time, i think he feels pretty safe domestically, politically, that his coalition won't collapse. hamas has never been so alone, not only on the battlefield, but also on social media. i mean, some of those scenes out of syria from the dungeons of damascus are upstaging the scenes of horror from gaza, so they are also feeling further isolated. that is also a positive trend, and i do think

something will happen, but not today. if something will happen, but not toda . ., , �* something will happen, but not toda. ., , �* ., today. if it doesn't come to ass today. if it doesn't come to pass on _ today. if it doesn't come to pass on this _ today. if it doesn't come to pass on this fan _ today. if it doesn't come to pass on this fan does - today. if it doesn't come to pass on this fan does go i today. if it doesn't come to j pass on this fan does go on today. if it doesn't come to - pass on this fan does go on the trump administration, what do you anticipate there, in terms of pressure from what will then be of course president trump? well, president trump has been very clear. he said i want it all to end before i am president, i want to be the president, i want to be the president of peace. he's the guy who likes to make deals, he wants to expand guy who likes to make dea